Sunday, October 01, 2006

BusMan Bust

I went with BusWife to dinner downtown Friday night. We went to Little Tokyo where we were meeting a friend. I particularly hate driving on Friday nights, and discovered that the No. 16 bus goes directly from two blocks from our house to two blocks from the restaurant.

What I did not notice is that only some of the No. 16 buses go all the way to Little Tokyo. The others stop about eight blocks away. Not that eight blocks is too far to walk; it isn’t. But eight blocks through Skid Row in the dark is a bit unnerving. Bad planning, BusMan.

If I had paid attention to the bus schedule, I would have seen this problem. Still, it would have meant we would have had to skip the bus we got on and waited for the next No. 16 bus. We had already waited more than 25 minutes because Friday rush hour traffic is so awful the bus schedules are often not accurate.

So getting to the restaurant was a big bust. Late by 30 minutes and having to walk in an area we really didn’t want to traverse.

Getting home was no better. We were on time for the bus going home. But it turned out the bus stop was next to a construction site, no longer marked, not very well lit, and right on the border of Skid Row. So we didn’t wait. We took a cab.

Lesson: Have a better sense of your destination neighborhood, make sure you carefully check the bus schedule, have an alternate bus route in mind if possible, and bring cab fare just in case.

4 Comments:

Glad that you and Mom came back home safely. When I was reading the beginning of your blog, I was bit worried. Here is an experience of Nathan and myself on the public transportation in SF – the SF Muni system. I don’t remember where we went, but we took a bus from downtown SF. We checked the route map of the SF mini before we left home, so we got some idea about which streets the bus would take. But we did not know much about the area that the bus would pass though. The bus we took went through the Tenderloin district. Nothing happened to us, but it was not a pleasant ride... but other than that, using the Muni worked for us. We didn’t need to fight for a tiny parking space!

Glad you made it home safely. My Mom, who is 87 years old, takes the muni three days a week to her Tai Chi class, mind/body class and her senior lunch program in J-town. She takes two buses to arrive at her destinations and has it timed perfectly. So, here's to public transportation!

Question: What do you do on the bus? Relax? Talk on your cell phone? Work? Enjoy the scenery?

When I'm on the bus I generally read, or relax and take in the scenery. I NEVER have long cell phone conversations. I think that's kind of rude and annoying, though I might make a quick call to let someone know where I am. Sometimes I send text messages to my kids or wife or friends while I'm riding. Overall I try to take it easy and de-stress. Thanks for asking.

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About Me

I was born in 1952, a second generation Los Angeles native. LA traffic is terrible and getting worse. Getting people out of cars and into public transportation seems like the best solution to this mess. The transit system is much better than I thought it was, but it needs improvement. It must be Clean, Fast, Safe and Go Everywhere.